Volume 18 | Issue 14 | Number 8 | Article ID 5425 | Jul 15, 2020 The Asia-Pacific Journal | Japan Focus “Asia’s Orphan” During the COVID-19 Pandemic Brian Hioe screenshots of messages from the Chinese whistleblower Li Wenliang during the early Abstract: Taiwan has managed to avoid morning hours of December 31st, 2019 while expansive lockdowns and the suspension of browsing the Internet and forwarded these everyday life seen elsewhere during the screenshots to colleagues, who subsequently COVID-19 pandemic. In this sense, thewrote to the World Health Organization asking COVID-19 pandemic may push Taiwan toward for more information (Chang, Chen, and Ko greater self-reliance, as well as increase 2020). Taiwan’s sense of subjective distance from other parts of the world. This may be the irony The Taiwanese government began screening of increased international attention on Taiwan passengers returning from Wuhan for because of its successful handling of the pneumonia-like symptoms the same day. A pandemic. medical team was dispatched to Wuhan from January 13th to 15th, finding a family cluster that suggested that COVID-19 could be spread between humans. Borders were closed to The experience of Taiwan during the COVID-19 individuals from Wuhan on January 23rd, pandemic has varied greatly from other subsequently widened to include Hubei, countries in the world. Namely, Taiwan has managed to avoid expansive lockdowns and the Guangdong, and Zhejiang provinces, with all suspension of everyday life. In this, Taiwan’s travelers from China required to make a health subjective experience of the COVID-19declaration (Watt 2020a). pandemic is very different from other Borders were shut altogether on March 18th to societies. foreign nationals, excluding individuals At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was traveling to Taiwan to fulfill business contracts, originally thought that Taiwan would be heavily those who held Alien Resident Certificates to affected by the coronavirus. Given Taiwan’s work or study in Taiwan, or were traveling to geographic proximity and close economic and Taiwan for diplomatic purposes. As of mid-June political links to China, a large amount of travel 2020, borders remain closed. Apart from occurs between Taiwan and China on a daily tourists being unable to visit Taiwan, this has basis, ranging from tourism and sightseeing to led to large disruptions for foreign students business travel and study. Hundreds ofstudying in Taiwan (Hioe 2020c). thousands of Taiwanese currently live in China (Pan and Yeh 2019). Because borders were shut, the COVID-19 outbreak in Taiwan was largely contained. However, the Tsai administration acted quickly Taiwanese who return from abroad are to prevent the pandemic from spreading to required to undergo mandatory fourteen-day Taiwan, inspecting arriving passengers from quarantines. Cell phone-based tracking apps Wuhan early on. The Center for Disease were used as a means of preventing people Control (CDC) deputy chief Lo Yi-chun saw from violating their quarantines, with local 1 18 | 14 | 8 APJ | JF police and neighborhood borough chiefs (a spread of COVID-19, such as medical masks local elected position) used to ensure that and hand sanitizers. Though Taiwan initially individuals were not breaking their quarantine. faced shortages, the government took steps to cooperate with and subsidize the production of Subsidies were provided by the government to medical supplies. Sixty new production lines for individuals undergoing quarantines and care medical supplies were set up, allowing Taiwan packages of instant noodles, snacks, and to produce 13 million medical masks per day medical supplies were sent to them on a (Wu and Chiang 2020), and the state-run regular basis (Hsieh 2020). Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corporation began Some quarantine centers and hostels were set producing alcohol sanitizer that was made up in urban locations for individualsavailable for sale in convenience stores and undergoing quarantine. A specialized fleet of other locations (Xie 2020). Taiwan is now the taxi cabs and buses were also used to transport world’s second-largest manufacturer of medical individuals returning to Taiwan (Wang and masks (Ngerng 2020). Liang 2020). Repatriation flights were arranged for Taiwanese stranded outside of Taiwan to A rationing system to allow for the distribution return home, with individuals put under of medical masks, with individuals given quarantine once they returned. However, different days to purchase masks based on the individuals from places with large numbers of number of their national healthcare ID, was set COVID-19 cases were initially not allowed to up (Chen, Chang, and Hsu 2020). The national return to Taiwan. healthcare ID was used to keep track of the number of mask purchases. Though this Contact tracing was used to track individuals resulted in long lines at pharmacies and who contracted COVID-19, to determine who convenience stores and there were criticisms they had come into contact with, sometimes that some groups, such as foreign white-collar using cell phone location data. Individuals that or blue-collar workers, lacked access to infected people came into contact with were medical supplies, this system facilitated an required to undergo quarantines. Taiwan’s effective national distribution of medical masks universal healthcare system and otherand other supplies (Lee 2020a). Quotas for government databases were centralized so that medical masks allowed for purchase were doctors could access the travel histories of increased gradually over time, as Taiwan’s patients that came in for check-ups. (Liu mask manufacturing capacity increased. 2020). Consequently, as of writing, Taiwan had 447 Tracing transmission chains of COVID-19 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with only seven eventually seemed to be successful in tracking deaths. Out of this total, 356 cases were down and eliminating domestic transmission imported and there were only 55 cases of chains, something that eventually resulted in domestic transmission. A cluster of 36 cases domestic transmission of COVID-19 seeming to tied to a navy vessel that visited Palau as part be eliminated entirely. As of mid-June 2020, it has been around eighty days since there last of a diplomatic visit was counted separately was a case of domestic COVID-19from imported or domestic cases. The origin of transmission. these cases is still unknown. It was previously feared that because the sailors had traveled The Taiwanese government also intervened in around Taiwan after they returned, this would private industry to ramp up the production of lead to an explosion of cases, but this did not medical supplies used for preventing the occur. 2 18 | 14 | 8 APJ | JF Given the success of measures to prevent the (CECC) proved highly successful in domestic spread of COVID-19, Taiwan did not communicating information regarding the have to resort to lockdowns or experience status of efforts to fight the pandemic, ways to significant disruption to everyday life. Social prevent COVID-19, as well as in fighting distancing measures were mandated on large misinformation and disinformation regarding gatherings, with restrictions on indoorthe pandemic. The Minister of Health and gatherings of over 100 people and outdoor Welfare Chen Shih-chung held daily press gatherings of over 250 people (Chen and Ko conferences to provide updates on the 2020). Some government facilities and some COVID-19 outlook, creating a centralized businesses were also closed as a result of the channel for distributing information about the pandemic, while some companies allowed pandemic nationally. Because of these daily employees to work from home, whilepress briefings, as well as his work ethic--Chen universities conducted classes above a certain was known to work constantly through the size through video conferencing software. course of the pandemic—he became something of a political superstar with a large fan Members of the public were also encouraged to following. Consequently, Chen and other go out less often and to wear medical masks in government officials used their COVID-19 fame public. Individuals riding on publicas a platform. One memorable incident involved transportation were not allowed to board if Chen and other male government officials they did not wear medical masks. Temperature wearing pink masks during the daily press checks were conducted at the entrances of briefing in order to destigmatize wearing pink, establishments ranging from the subways and following an incident in which a young boy was office buildings to restaurants, bars, and bullied at school for wearing a pink medical university campuses as a pandemicmask (Watt 2020b). Likewise, when the countermeasure. Visitors to places withpriorities of the government shifted to significant concentrations of people, asencouraging domestic tourism once the detected through cell phone data, were sent COVID-19 pandemic seemed to be under text messages warning about the possibility of control, Chen was called on to visit tourist COVID-19 transmission in crowded places locations as a demonstration that it was now during major holidays (Lee 2020c). safe to travel again (Lee 2020b). Moreover, the CECC distributed information about the Although restaurants, entertainmentpandemic through a number of mediums, establishments, or tourist-focused businesses targeting different age demographics. For took a hit due to social distancing, with record example, cute graphics featuring a Shiba Inu numbers of workers being